A successful Autosport Show for Motorsport Endeavour
The NEC played host to the 2010 Autosport Show on 14 -17 January 2010 which saw the greatest gathering of cars, bikes, trucks and petrol heads. Thousands of visitors come through the turnstiles and Motorsport Endeavour was there to take advantage of the exposure.
Graham Raphael, Steve Tarrant, Tilly Wilkes, John Green and myself, attended and worked tirelessly in talking to potential and current club members. We knew that out target audience wasn’t going to be large but for those individuals we did meet they were very interested in what MSE had to offer.
The team arrived on Wednesday to start putting the stand together. My drag racing Ford Mustang arrived mid afternoon but the car was a sorry state when it arrived, having travelled on the back of a tilt and slide truck in the snow. We got the car into place and we started our valiant attempt to get it clean. Not easy when all you have is a roll of blue kitchen towel to hand, but we made the effort and after a while it didn’t look too bad. Come Friday morning I decided that the car was not as clean and shiny as I would have liked and paid a trip to the Autoglym stand, the vehicle care specialists, to acquire a can of Show and Shine. Well, they did better than that. Two gentlemen from Autoglym popped over to our stand and gave the car a good going over using some of their products. After 5 minutes the car looked like it had just come from the show room. MSE would like to thank Autoglym for doing such a super job and for their support when it was needed. I would like to also thank Santa Pod for taking my car to to the NEC and for bringing the car back. It was very much appreciated.We met many people over the four day period all interested in getting involved with MSE. Some had already been involved in motor sport but through illness or accidents had their activities curtailed. It was a joy for some to know that there is hope and that they will be able to experience motorsport again.
It was also a great time for MSE as a whole. We met many individuals and organisations that were very supportive of what we were trying to do. To that end we will be announcing some very exciting events for 2010 that I’m sure you will want to be involved!
One of the many groups of people we met over the four day period was the Showtime Fuel Funny car team. John Spuffard, currently the fastest fuel funny car driver in Europe, popped by to say hello and to find out more about MSE. He was impressed with what we were offering and to help spread the word he has placed our logo on the side of his car. The car is capable of travelling at more than 300mph from a standing start over a quarter mile. That makes our logo one of the fastest logos around!Individually we all had our own targets but one of Steve Tarrant’s objectives was to meet the current Formula 1 World Champion, Jenson Button. After some negotiating and with the help of ESPNF1 online Magazine Steve’s objective was met. He spent sometime with Jenson where they discussed the aims of MSE and what MSE had to offer people with disabilities. He also managed to get Jenson’s autograph on a crash helmet, which was a replica to the one used by Jenson in 2009. (Click here to read the ESPNF1 news item.)
So, four days of meeting and greeting all kinds of people. Some with a disability, some that knew people with a disability and some that were just very interested in what we had to offer. The momentum has started and it’s now our opportunity to keep it going. Do you know anyone with a disability? If so, tell them about us and let’s get Motorsport Endeavour on the map.
We would like to thank Autosport International for their continued support.
To see more images from the Autosport Show click here.
Thank you to Trackside Images for supplying some great photos of the event.
Nigel Holland
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